Freshers fooled by ‘official’ ball scam

Bright eyed first years are being targeted through Facebook groups that falsely endorse “official” Student Union (SU) led events.

Most prominent is an event presented as the official Freshers Ball for both Warwick and Coventry Universities, held at the Lava nightclub in the centre of Coventry on Sunday night.

These events are in no-way affiliated with Warwick University but many students have bought tickets, drawn in by the misleading promotion and eager not to miss out on what is regarded as a highlight of any Freshers’ week.

Demanding an £18 entry fee, the event is billed as ‘Warwick and Coventry Universities Freshers’ Ball 2009’.

The creators have also set up unofficial Warwick Fresher groups for both the whole year and individual halls of residence, through which the ball is heavily promoted; described as ‘THE BIGGEST EVENT ON THE WARWICK FRESHERS CALENDER’.

Organisers urge members to ignore recent Facebook comments from the Students’ Union speaking out against the event as “utter nonsense”; while those who have bought Freshers passes entitling them to free entry to all SU events in the coming fortnight, continue to be misinformed simply being told the event is “not covered”.

Concerns have also been raised about student safety in travelling to and from the event.

Although bus services run frequently from the campus, the group failed to point out that these end before midnight, despite the event running until 3am.

One first year student caught out by the promotion explained, “Now I know the University has nothing to do with this event it does suddenly make it sound a little risky to go out into the middle of Coventry, where I’ve never been to on my own before, without knowing anyone better than on first name terms”.

She continued by saying that the combination of these factors meant she was “considering not going despite having already paid for the ticket.”

Communications Officer for the SU, Isaac Newton Acquah, echoed such concerns, saying the fake ball organisers’ behaviour has been “unacceptable”.

In order to combat the situation notices have been posted on both the Warwick SU homepage and my.warwick student accounts, explaining the situation.

Tickets for the official Freshers Ball on 15 October, featuring Hadouken!, Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac and many more, are now on sale.